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Stoking the Dragon's fire in Whistler

Bruce Croxon, of Dragon's Den, takes his hat off to local entrepreneurs
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Thousands of miles away on a cell phone just outside of Toronto, you can hear the hankering in Bruce Croxon's voice when he talks about Whistler.

"I love the place," he says, his voice laced with a genuine longing for the town he called home for two years.

It's 3 p.m. on the Friday before the May 24 long weekend. The highways heading out of the steamy city are starting to back up as the mass exodus to cottage country begins — a Toronto rite of passage at the start of every summer.

But Croxon is heading back into the city. Though he has a place up north in Georgian Bay, he's just not up for it this weekend. Filming on the next season of Dragon's Den has just wrapped and he's tired.

"The town's empty and we've got it to ourselves," he says, as he makes his way home to his wife and two kids.

This is a familiar path — going against the grain.

And it's landed him where he is today: a multi-millionaire Dragon on the hit CBC television series, poised to help change the lives of wannabe entrepreneurs.

Almost 15 years ago, Croxon was hanging out in Whistler. It was 1998. The snow was "incredible."

Not quite your typical ski bum, Croxon was 40-ish, single, no kids and co-owner of the widely successful online dating site Lavalife. He could work from Whistler and fly back to Toronto for board meetings.

It's a time he remembers fondly, eking the most of the mountain, forming fast friends he still has to this day.

"I was doing a lot of skiing and my body was breaking down and I got sold on the benefits of massage, for what it could do some my skiing, allow you to ski 65 days a season," he said.

He bought into Vida Spas and together the new owners rebranded the existing spa at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler. They built two more in Vancouver, one in Seattle and then back to Vancouver for the fifth spa.

So the connection to Whistler is still strong, and the pull to come back for holidays even stronger.

It's harder now that he's a dad of a nine-year-old and a seven-year-old and at the helm of Round13, a company dedicated to investing in next generation information, communication and entertainment opportunities. And now a TV personality.

But he still comes back at least twice a year. And has a keen interest in Whistler success, both personally and financially.

Croxon talks to the Pique this week about the challenges of being an entrepreneur, particularly in a small resort town, and about the road ahead for Whistler.

Pique: You say you "took the road less travelled." How did that make a difference for you?

BC: "I've always been an entrepreneur and always worked on my own and come up with my own ideas. I didn't really take a conventional route, working for a company and that kind of thing. And I've always been open to visiting new communities and settling there for a bit and getting to know them. The thing that attracts me about Whistler is that it really does attract a lot of free spirits. It's the best skiing terrain in the world in my opinion. It attracts people that have a love of the outdoors and are relatively unconventional and I love those environments. There's some real free spirits in that town and some great people."

Pique: And yet they have to make a living here too. What do you say to those entrepreneurs, carving a life for themselves in a niche market like Whistler?

BC: "The first thing I would say is 'hat's off to them' because the thing that pulled them there in the first place is something you feel in your bones. There's a love of the mountains and a love of recreation and they're leading with their passion. Those people aren't chained to a desk on Bay Street and they just intuitively know that's not for them. Moves like that take a certain amount of courage. A lot of people are socialized to be a lot more conventional in their approach. This isn't advice it's just an acknowledgement to people like that, a 'good for them,' for taking a shot to support a lifestyle that they clearly love." Once you've got past that, it's not an easy town. It's an international destination and it's expensive so my heart goes out to people that businesses can't afford often to pay the kind of wages that allow people to live right in resort towns so they have to be resourceful. And every time you drive up from Squamish or drive down from Pemberton, in the middle of the winter to make your shift, it may be good to remind yourself it's a relatively small price to pay for what a lot of people would envy as an incredible lifestyle."

Pique: Any advice to local entrepreneurs?

BC: "It's the same advice that I have for entrepreneurs the world over. It's not for everybody. It's a lot sexier word than the reality of being an entrepreneur. It's really seven days a week 24 hours a day of hard work and thinking about whatever area you've chosen. And I say that especially today because information travels so quickly – there's no secrets anymore. It's not like you can sequester yourself and develop an idea without anyone else knowing about it. The Internet will fix that. It's out there. So if you're not thinking about your business all the time, my view is there's somebody else out there who is. So it's a lot of hard work. And that might get in the way of a powder day sometimes but hopefully not all the time, right? You may do some of your best thinking when you're going down Spanky's — the thoughts come to you!"

Pique: Do you think an entrepreneur is born or made?

BC: I think they're born and then made in the first seven to ten years of their life. That's my theory. I think you become who you are mainly in the first seven to ten years of your life, depending on what your home influences are and the kind of situation you grew up in. I think that's when you're the most impressionable. So it's challenging for people to become entrepreneurs when they're 40. I think it's something that gets in you pretty young. It's a combination of how comfortable you are with risk, with the inevitable failures you're going to have, the weeks that you come home and say 'nothing went right.' Are you the kind of person that's going to kick the dog, or be mean to your spouse, or be a bad parent because of the pressure? Or are you the kind of person who says, 'you know what, I'll get 'em next week.' Those things I think you don't develop. You either have that or you don't."

Pique: Was there a time where you wished you had gone a different route?

BC: "There's a couple. One is my dad started his own (car dealership) business. One of the options that I had was to go to work for him. So that's a bit of a regret that I have. We have a great relationship but it would have been nice to work with him. But that would have been choosing a route that was not my own thing. So I couldn't do it. He was one of my earliest role models and he didn't really have anyone helping him out. But I do remember at times over the years, thinking that. And there were times when I thought it could have been a lot shorter route if I had of worked for somebody that I respected, and admired, and learned from them rather than learning the lessons on your own. But by and large I'd have to say no, I've been very comfortable with my choices."

Pique: How do you see Whistler evolving and are you connected to the ebb and flow of the resort economy?

BC: "I'm connected through how my spa does. And we've come through some rocky times. When people ask me about Whistler and what my view of it is for the future, I'm as interested as anybody else is — I'm invested there. I really want to see it come back. It's been hit with a number of things over the years if you think about it. I've lost the order but – 9/11 where Americans just weren't getting on planes. We went through SARS, mad cow disease, the borders that tightened up, the Americans had to have passports, which a lot of them didn't have, the dollar went to parity. There has been a lot of stuff that the town has had to weather. But my optimism comes from the basic fact, in my view, that it's the best terrain for skiers in the world. I think a lot of resorts have caught up in terms of catering to families and that kind of thing, but if you want to come and ski with a group, there's something for everybody. So I'm optimistic that over time, as things recover, I'll hold up Canada first and then Whistler within that, against any destination in the world. The more I travel, the more I realize how good we have it. So I'm optimistic. But then again, that's my nature.

I remain optimistic that if you've got the best place to ski in the world, as people start putting some more money in their jeans again, back they'll come. It's simplistic but that's how I feel."

Pique: How has your life changed since Dragon's Den?

BC: "Well, I get less time in Whistler, which is painful. My inbox is a little fuller than it's been in quite a while. But thankfully the only time I get recognized walking down the street is when I walk with (fellow Dragon) Jim Treliving!"